Crawling Out Of The Darkness is the debut LP from Boston local and globetrotter Daniel Szetela, recording under the name Jack Luminous (which has to be a Voivod reference- tell me if I'm wrong!). You can break this album into three essential elements; guitar, rhythm and Daniel's poetry. There is not that much more to it, and that's fine. Sometimes being extra is just being extra, and can really interfere with the artist's attempt to get their message across. This is thankfully not the case with Crawling Out Of The Darkness and you can pretty much pick up its vibe right away- no crystal ball required.
As the name implies, the album profiles Daniels' cautious but optimistic advance into the world in search of love and connection. In truth, I didn't need to tell even that much. You could have probably picked up on what these songs are about from the extent to which the guitar work borrows from Johnny Marr. Nothing says forlorn and looking to heal one's heartache like choppy waves of reed-thin and quivering guitar chords that sound like they've leaked through a temporal tear in '80s Manchester.
The next element is the rhythm, which is very complimentary to the guitars in that it feels highly attentive to its surroundings and even stilted at times. It almost feels like the drummer is afraid to move without the cover of amplifier feedback obscuring their motions and guarding each purposeful strike at their instrument. As much as the beat might try to hide, I still noticed it, and how it impacts the cadence of the music in a meaningful and thematic way- so it's going to get a shout from me!
Then there is Daniel's poetry, which he speak-sings in a kind of wayward leaning sigh, that has a very K Records kind of sensibility to it. There is a hesitation to his singing and a naivete that helps to barter the value of the nervous joy that impacts his words. Words that any Smiths fan will recognize as very proto-emo in their content and reflections, and the way in which they speak to everyone's life in a strangely personal but still anonimizing manner.
Something else that is worth noting about how the songs on Crawling Out Of The Darkness are put together is the gap between Daniel's singing and the rest of the instrumentation- a gap that is wide enough to comfortably get your whole hand through if you needed to. Far from being distracting, this distance works for the overall construction of the album, as it puts some physical distance between Daniel as the narrator and the world he is inhabiting to reinforce the reticence expressed by the lyrics while helping the listener to empathize with the singer's situation- a necessary hurdle to clear if someone is going to find the singer worthy of their love and affection.
Getting over the initial hurdle of a sheepish "Hello" can sometimes be the hardest part of a conversation. But once that greeting is out there, things have a habit of taking their own course and winding in directions you might not have predicted. That's what I like most about Crawling Out Of The Darkness; it's charting its own course and making space for itself where it needs to. There is nothing much more you can do than admire its careful stride and conscious progression.
